identity, however, and banded together in a
village called Yankeetown.
I wondered how the islanders had fared
during World War II, and asked Nat Savory.
"The Japanese were good people," he told me,
"but when the war started, they changed."
Some of the Yankees were drafted into the
Japanese Army; others were forced to work
on island fortifications. Their Western faces
aroused hostility.
"I remember," said Jerry Savory, another
great-grandson of Nathaniel, "a Japanese
officer telling me, 'Jerry, your ancestors' coun
try is finished.' This hurt me very much."
When Pacific combat forced the evacuation
of the colonists to Japan in 1944, nearly
Stiff as a board, a frozen
wahoo rides the shoulder of
Willie's brother, Moses Sa
vory. He carries it from a
freezer in the fishing cooper
ative. An old fish tally marks
the wall. The Navy provided
the freezers and shipped fish
without charge to Guam,
but set a quota because of
limited space. Now, under
Japan, Chichi Jima's fisher
men must make new mar
keting arrangements.
7,000 persons left the Bonins and Iwo Jima,
in the Volcano Islands, 170 miles away. At
that time the Japanese feared an American
attack on either Chichi or Iwo and heavily
fortified both islands. Iwo Jima, because of its
strategic importance as the best available air
base between the Mariana Islands and Tokyo,
was the actual target. After it was taken, the
Bonins were bombed almost daily, but never
invaded. U. S. Marines occupied Chichi Jima
in December, 1945.
Then the United States assumed jurisdic
tion over the Bonin and Volcano Islands. The
Navy administered them, although Japan
retained "residual sovereignty."
Following
long negotiations, Japan expected to resume
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